»Vulnerable Families«: Reflections on a Difficult Category
Keywords:
vulnerability, child protection, family image, family concept, social work, family support
Abstract
The term “vulnerable families” refers to familial living situations that are considered problematic, with a particular need for socially responsible, professionally provided support. This means of categorising families is extremely ambivalent, indicating not only a need for society to support forms of family life and family achievements, but also a particular need to protect children growing up within the family. It also has implications for an understanding of interventions geared to the riskiness of family living situations and their standardisation, an understanding that risks losing sight of families’ variety and individual peculiarities. Families in need of support have a fundamental right for their individuality and parenthood to be recognised. A detailed case analysis of a social worker who is working with a family in which a child’s wellbeing is at risk shows how transferring standardising ideas about the family can damage that basic right. The article thus calls for the category of vulnerability to be applied to families with reflection on the specific case and on implicit normative leanings.
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References
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Honig, M. S. (1999). Entwurf einer Theorie der Kindheit [Draft of a theory of childhood]. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Hübenthal, M., & Ifland, A. M. (2011). Risks for children? Recent developments in early childcare Policy in Germany. Childhood 18(1), 114–127.
Lenz, K., & Böhnisch, L. (1997). Zugänge zu Familien – ein Grundlagentext [Family approaches – a basic text]. In L. Böhnisch, & K. Lenz (Eds.), Familien. Eine interdisziplinäre Einführung [Families. An interdisciplinary introduction] (pp. 9–63). Weinheim, Munich: Juventa.
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Riemann, G. (2010). The Significance of Procedures of Ethnography and Narrative Analysis for the (Self-) Reflection of Professional Work. In R. Bohnsack, N. Pfaff, & W. Weller (Eds.), Qualitative Analysis and Documentary Method. In International Educational Research (pp. 75–95). Opladen:Barbara Budrich.
Slembrouck, S., & Hall, C. (2003): ‘Caring but not coping.’ Fashioning the Legitimate Parent Identity. In Ch. Hall, K. Juhila, N. Parton, & T. Pösö (Eds.), Constructing Clienthood in Social Work and human Services. Interaction, Identities and Practices. (pp. 44–61). London & New York: Jessica Kingsley.
Turnbull, G., & Spence, J. (2011). What’s at risk? The proliferation of risk across child and youth policy in England. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(8), 939–959.
Ummel, H., Bauer P., & Wiezorek C. (2013). Das Verschwinden der strukturellen Besonderheit von Familie im Familienbild einer Professionellen aus dem frühpädagogischen Bereich.
Überlegungen zur Entdifferenzierung von öffentlicher und privater Erziehung [The disappearance of the structural family characteristics in the family image of a professional in the field of early education. Considerations of de-differentiations in public and private education]. In Sektion Sozialpädagogik und Pädagogik der frühen Kindheit (Eds.), Konsens und Kontroversen [Consensus and Controversies] (pp. 139–168). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
Urek, M. (2005). Making a Case in Social Work. Qualitative Social Work, 4(4), 451–467.
White, S. (2003). The Social Worker as Moral Judge: Blame, Responsibility and Case Formulation. In C. Hall, K. Juhila, N. Parton, & T. Pösö (Eds.), Constructing Clienthood in Social Work and Human Services. Interaction, Identities and Practices (pp. 177–192). London/New York: Jessica Kingsley.
White, S., & Wastell, D. (2011). Theoretical vocabularies and moral negotiation in child welfare: The saga of Evie and Seb. In C. N. Candlin, & S. Sarangi (Eds.), Handbook of Communication in
Organisations and Professions (pp. 259–276). Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Wiezorek, C., & Pardo-Puhlmann, M. (2013). Armut, Bildungsferne, Erziehungsunfähigkeit – Zur Reproduktion sozialer Ungleichheit in pädagogischen Normalitätsvorstellungen [Poverty, little access to education, educational disability – about the reproduction of social inequality in pedagogical normality beliefs]. In F. Dietrich, M. Heinrich, & N. Thieme (Eds.), Bildungsgerechtigkeit jenseits von Chancengleichheit [Educational justice beyond equal opportunities] (pp. 197–214). Berlin & Wiesbaden: Springer; VS.
Wilhelm, E. (2005). Rationalisierung der Jugendfürsorge. Die Herausbildung neuer Steuerungsformen des Sozialen zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts [Rationalization of the youth care. The development of new forms of social regulation at the beginning of the 20th century]. Bern: Haupt.
Zenz, G. (1979). Kindesmißhandlung, Kinderschutz und Kindesrechte im geschichtlichen Überblick [Child abuse, child protection and children’s rights in a historical view]. In G. Zenz (Ed.),
Kindesmißhandlung und Kindesrechte. Erfahrungswissen, Normstruktur und Entscheidungsrationalität [Child abuse and children’s rights. Know-how, norm patterns and logical reasoning in decision making] (pp. 19–76). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Vulnerable Kinder. Interdisziplinäre Annäherungen [Interdisciplinary approaches] (pp. 7– 9). Wiesbaden: Springer; VS.
Bauer, P. (2016). Förderung der Erziehung in der Familie [Advancement of family education]. In W. Schröer, N. Struck, & M. Wolff (Eds.), Handbuch Kinder- und Jugendhilfe (2nd ed.) [Handbook of Youth Welfare] (pp. 866–912). Weinheim; Munich: Beltz.
Bauer, P., & Wiezorek, C. (2007). Zwischen Elternrecht und Kindeswohl. [Between parental rights and best interests of the child] In J. Ecarius (Ed.), Handbuch Familie [Handbook Family] (pp.
614–636). Wiesbaden: VS.
Bauer, P., & Wiezorek, C. (2009). Familienbilder professioneller SozialpädagogInnen [Images of the family from professional social workers]. In B. Thiessen & P. Villa (Eds.), Mütter – Väter:
Diskurse, Medien, Praxen [Mothers – Fathers. Discourses, Media, Practices] (pp. 173–193). Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
Bauer, P., Neumann, S., Sting, S., Ummel, H., & Wiezorek, C. (2015). Familienbilder und Bilder ‚guter‘ Elternschaft. Zur Bedeutung eines konstitutiven, aber vernachlässigten Moments
pädagogischer Professionalität [Images of the family and images of a „good“ parenthood. The Importance of a constitutive but unattended moment of the pedagogical professionality]. In S. Fegter, C. Heite, J. Mierendorff, & M. Richter (Eds.), Neue Praxis, Special Vol. 2014, “Transformationen von Familie und Elternschaft – sozialpädagogische Perspektiven“ [Transformations in family and parenthood – pedagogical and social workers’ perspectives], 16–28.
Böllert, K. (2012). Die Familie der Sozialen Arbeit [The Family of the Social Work]. In K. Böllert, & C. Peter (Eds.), Mutter + Vater = Eltern? [Mothers + fathers = parents?] (pp. 117–133). Wiesbaden: Springer; VS.
Bühler-Niederberger, D., Alberth, L., & Eisentraut S. (2014). Wo bleiben die Kinder im Kinderschutz? Die Logik der Intervention bei Sozialarbeitern, Ärzten und Hebammen [Where are the children in the child protection system? The Logic of the way how Social workers, physicians and midwifes intervene]. In D. Bühler-Niederberger, L. Alberth, & S. Eisentraut (Eds.), Kinderschutz. Wie kindzentriert sind Programme, Praktiken, Perspektiven? [Child protection. How child-centered are programms, practices and perspectives?] (pp. 26–61). München: Juventa.
Dekker, J. J. H. (2010). Educational Ambitions in History. Childhood and Education in an Expanding Educational Space from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Featherstone, B., Morris, K., & White, S. (2014). A Marriage Made in Hell: Early Intervention Meets Child Protection. British Journal of Social Work, 44(7), 1–15.
Hall, C., & Slembrouck, S. (2011). Interviewing parents of children in care: perspectives, discourse and accountability. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(3), 457–465.
Hasselhorn, M., Andresen, S., Becker, B., Betz, T., Leuzinger-Bohleber, M., & Schmid, J. (2015). Children at Risk of Poor Educational Outcomes: In Search of a Transdisciplinary Theoretical
Framework. Child Indicators Research, 8(2), 425–438.
Helming, E. (2010). Kontrollstrategien der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe am Beispiel der Entwicklung von Frühwarnsystemen und Frühen Hilfen [The development of early warning systems and
early support as examples for control strategies in Youth welfare]. In B. Michel-Schwartze (Ed.), „Modernisierungen“ methodischen Handelns in der Sozialen Arbeit [“Modernization” of methodical acting in social work] (pp. 173–204). Wiesbaden: Springer; VS.
Helsper, W. (2004). Pädagogisches Handeln in den Antinomien der Moderne [The pedagogical acting in the antinomies of the modern World]. In H. H. Krüger & W. Helsper (Eds.), Einführung in Grundbegriffe und Grundfragen der Erziehungswissenschaft [Introduction into the basic concepts and basic questions of the educational science] (pp. 15–34). Wiesbaden: UTB.
Hildenbrand, B. (2011). Welches sind günstige Rahmenbedingungen für die ersten Jahre des Aufwachsens? Wie können diese in Einrichtungen öffentlicher Sozialisation gefördert werden?
Überlegungen auf der Grundlage eines laufenden Forschungsprojekts [Which are advantageous conditions for the first years of growing up? How can they be supported in public socialization? Considerations based on an ongoing research project]. In G. Robert, K. Pfeifer, & T. Drößler (Eds.), Aufwachsen in Dialog und sozialer Verantwortung. Bildung – Risiken – Prävention [Growing up in dialogue and social responsibility. Education – risks – prevention] (pp. 21–47). Wiesbaden: Springer; VS.
Honig, M. S. (1999). Entwurf einer Theorie der Kindheit [Draft of a theory of childhood]. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Hübenthal, M., & Ifland, A. M. (2011). Risks for children? Recent developments in early childcare Policy in Germany. Childhood 18(1), 114–127.
Lenz, K., & Böhnisch, L. (1997). Zugänge zu Familien – ein Grundlagentext [Family approaches – a basic text]. In L. Böhnisch, & K. Lenz (Eds.), Familien. Eine interdisziplinäre Einführung [Families. An interdisciplinary introduction] (pp. 9–63). Weinheim, Munich: Juventa.
Pardo-Puhlmann, M. (2010). „Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst ….“ Der sozialpädagogische Blick auf die Familie – Eine Pilotstudie über Familienbilder von Sozialpädagogen in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe [‘I spy with my little eye…’ The social pedagogical views on families – a pilot study on family images of social workers in the child and youth welfare]. Unveröffentlichte Magisterarbeit: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
Riemann, G. (2010). The Significance of Procedures of Ethnography and Narrative Analysis for the (Self-) Reflection of Professional Work. In R. Bohnsack, N. Pfaff, & W. Weller (Eds.), Qualitative Analysis and Documentary Method. In International Educational Research (pp. 75–95). Opladen:Barbara Budrich.
Slembrouck, S., & Hall, C. (2003): ‘Caring but not coping.’ Fashioning the Legitimate Parent Identity. In Ch. Hall, K. Juhila, N. Parton, & T. Pösö (Eds.), Constructing Clienthood in Social Work and human Services. Interaction, Identities and Practices. (pp. 44–61). London & New York: Jessica Kingsley.
Turnbull, G., & Spence, J. (2011). What’s at risk? The proliferation of risk across child and youth policy in England. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(8), 939–959.
Ummel, H., Bauer P., & Wiezorek C. (2013). Das Verschwinden der strukturellen Besonderheit von Familie im Familienbild einer Professionellen aus dem frühpädagogischen Bereich.
Überlegungen zur Entdifferenzierung von öffentlicher und privater Erziehung [The disappearance of the structural family characteristics in the family image of a professional in the field of early education. Considerations of de-differentiations in public and private education]. In Sektion Sozialpädagogik und Pädagogik der frühen Kindheit (Eds.), Konsens und Kontroversen [Consensus and Controversies] (pp. 139–168). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.
Urek, M. (2005). Making a Case in Social Work. Qualitative Social Work, 4(4), 451–467.
White, S. (2003). The Social Worker as Moral Judge: Blame, Responsibility and Case Formulation. In C. Hall, K. Juhila, N. Parton, & T. Pösö (Eds.), Constructing Clienthood in Social Work and Human Services. Interaction, Identities and Practices (pp. 177–192). London/New York: Jessica Kingsley.
White, S., & Wastell, D. (2011). Theoretical vocabularies and moral negotiation in child welfare: The saga of Evie and Seb. In C. N. Candlin, & S. Sarangi (Eds.), Handbook of Communication in
Organisations and Professions (pp. 259–276). Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
Wiezorek, C., & Pardo-Puhlmann, M. (2013). Armut, Bildungsferne, Erziehungsunfähigkeit – Zur Reproduktion sozialer Ungleichheit in pädagogischen Normalitätsvorstellungen [Poverty, little access to education, educational disability – about the reproduction of social inequality in pedagogical normality beliefs]. In F. Dietrich, M. Heinrich, & N. Thieme (Eds.), Bildungsgerechtigkeit jenseits von Chancengleichheit [Educational justice beyond equal opportunities] (pp. 197–214). Berlin & Wiesbaden: Springer; VS.
Wilhelm, E. (2005). Rationalisierung der Jugendfürsorge. Die Herausbildung neuer Steuerungsformen des Sozialen zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts [Rationalization of the youth care. The development of new forms of social regulation at the beginning of the 20th century]. Bern: Haupt.
Zenz, G. (1979). Kindesmißhandlung, Kinderschutz und Kindesrechte im geschichtlichen Überblick [Child abuse, child protection and children’s rights in a historical view]. In G. Zenz (Ed.),
Kindesmißhandlung und Kindesrechte. Erfahrungswissen, Normstruktur und Entscheidungsrationalität [Child abuse and children’s rights. Know-how, norm patterns and logical reasoning in decision making] (pp. 19–76). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Published
2016-12-31
Section
FOCUS
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